Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman apparently told Time’s Alex Heath, “I think it’s a good time to slow down.” That story, published Tuesday, was about OpenAI slowing down model development in light of recent safety headaches, such as its agents apparently taking a turn for the rebellious during safety evaluations.
But OpenAI’s journey to profitability may also be slowing down, according to an anonymously sourced Wall Street Journal story published Tuesday. The Journal’s elusive “people familiar with the matter” said OpenAI told investors revenue had grown by just 18% when comparing the first and second quarters of this year. Revenue was $6.7 billion in the quarter ending in June, compared to $5.7 billion the quarter before.
Gizmodo requested a statement from OpenAI about the Wall Street Journal’s claim, but did not hear back.
The Wall Street Journal’s story contains the claim that OpenAI’s revenue news “disappointed some shareholders who had hoped the startup would show more progress catching up to rival Anthropic.” Anthropic is the gallant to OpenAI’s revenue-generating Goofus, if the anonymous OpenAI sources who spoke to the Journal are to be believed. Anthropic just reported a 130% revenue surge, and a profitable quarter—though take that with a grain of salt given Anthropic’s weird recent history of dealmaking.
But OpenAI also reportedly claimed to its investors that growth accelerated after the GPT-5.6 family of models launched publicly last month. Later that same month, OpenAI introduced price cuts for its Luna and Terra models, including a steep 80% cut for Terra.
But the Journal says Anthropic is already in the final preparations for its IPO, which credible rumors claim we should expect next month. OpenAI’s IPO, meanwhile, is widely expected to be delayed until next year.
For what it’s worth, Bloomberg reported last week that OpenAI is expected to generate about $40 billion in total this year, which would see it doubling its revenue year-over-year. Anthropic’s annualized revenue projection, meanwhile, has shot up to $65 billion this year, and the total could skyrocket even more to $100 or even $120 billion for the year, according to the Financial Times. $120 billion in revenue would likely mean more revenue than Target.
If you’re an OpenAI investor, this might all suck. But if we take all this recent news about AI models hacking companies and escaping containment seriously, OpenAI’s overall slowdown probably isn’t a bad thing for humanity. “Getting AI safety right,” Altman told Time, “is more important than any company’s momentum.”
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